Noun Phrases in Cotzal Ixil

Noun Phrases in Cotzal Ixil

Phonemes

Figure 1 shows the phonemes of the Cotzal <iialect to aid the reader in
understanding the material presented in the paper, Morphophonemic variations
have been regularized for the most part. Note that the chart does not include
Spanish loans like /t v / that are not well assimilated into Ixil. /r/ is a
notable exception, so it is included in the chart.

Though stress is not completely predictable on the word level, it will
not be considered contrastive for this study. Sentence intonational stress
generally falls on the next to the last syllable. Words are generally
stressed on the penult or, if the vowel in the final syllable is either long
or laryngealized, on the ultima. For the most part, Spanish loan words retain
their original stress pattern.

Low contrastive pitch is represented in this paper as V*. It is a
suprasegmental phoneme occurring only in roots with a final long vowel.

All the labial consonants are bilabial except for /v/ , which is
labiodental. The labialized stops occur in only a handful of words. The only
stop that is voiced is /6/ •

4? J- #* <t°*

V

Stop

p

t

k q

?

Glottalized Stop

6

t'

k' q'

Labialized Stop

P w

kw

Affricate

t

c

9

Glottalized
Affricate
Fricative

v

s

c 1

s

5'

h

Nasal

m

n

Resonant

l,r

y

Vowels: Short

Long

Laryngealized

i

e

a

o

u

i*

e»
a

o*

u»

i? u?

e? o?

a'

Low Pitch: V*

Figure 1. Phonemic Inventory

1b

NOUN PHRASES
IN
COTZAL IX I L

by PAUL TOWNSEND

SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS
APARTADO POSTAL 7 U
GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA

1C I^^lSTYI 1986